Cute, cuddly and numerically competent. timsackton

“The humble pigeon has been in the scientific spotlight lately since the discovery that the much-maligned species is far smarter than previously thought. A study by psychologist Damian Scarf and colleagues – discussed recently on The Conversation – showed pigeons possess numerical abilities comparable to those found in primates.

‘But while pigeons surprised many with their ‘numerical competence’, there’s arguably an even better performer among our feathered friends: the domestic chick (Gallus gallus).

“More on chicks in a moment, of course, but before we get there it’s worth asking: why all the buzz about the numerical ability of animals?

“This area has attracted particular interest in the past few decades because numerical competency has, traditionally, been linked with language. Put simply, it was long believed that numerical competency evolved in humans at the same time as language.

“We now know this to be untrue. To explain why, we need to understand the different levels of numerical ability.

“The most basic form is the ability to make judgments of size between different sets of items (“there are three worms in this group and four in that group”). This ability serves animals well in food searching and allows such animals to choose collections of food with more items. This ability is demonstrated by very young domestic chicks when they choose to approach objects on which they have been imprinted.

“Italian psychologists Rosa Rugani, Lucia Regolin and (one of your current authors) Giorgio Vallortigara showed chicks prefer to join groups of more objects versus a single object or a smaller set of objects. Since these “objects” would normally be social companions, the preference for larger groups probably reflects flocking behaviour.

“The results of these tests, made with many adequate controls, were quite similar to those obtained with human infants. Human infants, it would seem, are also attracted to larger groups.”

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